The Shiite armed group is affected by the loss of its top commanders, but will not be brought “to its knees”, says the supreme leader.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei insists that Lebanese Hezbollah remains strong despite losing some of its top commanders in Israeli strikes.
In a meeting with military personnel on Wednesday, as Israel's airstrikes against the Shiite armed group continued for a third straight day, Iran's supreme leader said that while Hezbollah has been weakened, it will survive.
“Some of Hezbollah’s effective and valuable forces were martyred, which undoubtedly caused damage to Hezbollah, but this was not the kind of damage that could bring the group to its knees,” Khamenei said.
“Hezbollah’s organizational strength and human resources are very strong and will not be seriously affected by the assassination of a senior commander, even if that is clearly a loss,” the Iranian leader added.
He concluded by declaring that “the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance will have the final victory.”
'There is no de-escalation'
Hezbollah has exchanged fire almost daily with the Israeli military across the Lebanese-Israeli border since the war in Gaza broke out in October.
However, violence between the two escalated dramatically last week when a series of coordinated attacks caused electronic devices used by Hezbollah to explode across Lebanon and Syria.
The remote-controlled attack, which many blame on Israel, killed at least 39 people and injured nearly 3,000. Analysts called it a dangerous new twist in cyber warfare.
On Wednesday, Israeli warplanes bombed Lebanon for a third day in a row. Airstrikes earlier in the week killed at least 558 people, marking the deadliest wave of violence in Lebanon since the 1975-1990 civil war and prompting tens of thousands of people to flee the south of the country.
Several senior Hezbollah figures have been killed in the latest outbreak of violence, including senior commanders Ibrahim Aqil and Ibrahim Muhammad Qubaisi.
In retaliation, Hezbollah said it had fired a ballistic missile at the headquarters of Israel's Mossad near Tel Aviv on Wednesday, an attack the Israeli military described as unprecedented.
Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, said attacks between Israel and Hezbollah appeared set to escalate.
“There is no détente. There is no diplomacy. Just Hezbollah and the Israeli army attacking each other,” he said.
“The Israeli military says it is still attacking Hezbollah targets, but Hezbollah is slightly increasing the offensive and we are seeing many more rocket attacks than we have seen in the last 24 hours.”
